Technology transfer, Variability, and Adaptation of Glass Production in Colonial Mexico: Preliminary Results from a Local and Global Perspective

Summary

Glass arrived in the Americas as a fully developed technology and glass workshops appeared in New Spain soon after the establishment of the colonial regime. Little is known about the way this technology was adapted to the local resources and conditions, the variety of products made, and how this technology changed and assimilated within the viceregal world and the Spanish Empire at large. Through a multiscalar and multidisciplinary approach incorporating archaeology, history, ethnography and scientific investigations, this project unfolds the social changes and the processes of adoption of glass technology in colonial Mexico within the context of the local socio-political milieu and global influences that shaped its development. Historical research performed at national and local archives in Mexico and Spain, combined with ethnographic research and the scientific study of glass artifacts, have provided crucial information on the social and technical aspects of glassmaking and glassworking in New Spain, thus placing Mexican archaeological glass collections in a global context.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• The Archaeology of Global History

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 14298